Richard Garriott in talks with EA over Ultima Online 2

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Found this article which was released today that Richard "the spaceman" Garriott could very well end up developing a Ultima Online 2. His current project "Ultimate RPG" a new web browser game based on Ultima Online could end up becoming Ultima Online 2 under the EA banner..

It's an interesting article. I've often wished for the return of Lord British to our present UO world, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards, nor in the mind of Richard Garriott. Perhaps his vision of a new "Ultimate RPG" will become a reality in time. What makes me sad is the thought that his new virtual world, if it proves wildly successful, might ultimately result in the end of this one.

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I know so many gamers that are interested in the game mechanics of Ultima Online (no classes and levels, player housing, open sandbox world, no quests, no instances, no grind) and specifically the old version of the game where we didn't yet have the horrible itemization.

But they simply cannot put up with Ultima Online's aged graphics and horrible user interface.

The only thing I hope is that it will be an isometric game or otherwise play from a bird's eye perspective. I hate first/third person games so much.

But I'm afraid that would mean the death of the original UO.

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UOs death is inevitable, it'll happen sooner or later. The only fear I have is that it will die before a worthy replacement comes.

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A lot of companies that make MMO sequels keep the original game's servers going after the sequel. I think EA would do the same for UO even if UO2 is made. Each game would have its own production team. UO's servers will close when the game is no longer profitable, independent of whatever else is happening.

It's an interesting article. I've often wished for the return of Lord British to our present UO world, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards, nor in the mind of Richard Garriott. Perhaps his vision of a new "Ultimate RPG" will become a reality in time.

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The thing that bugs me the most is that he wants to use the Ultima name and IP, but he's talking about moving past Ultima as we know it into a new setting.

"This is clearly the spiritual successor of the Ultima series," he said.

A successor, but not a sequel - Garriott is keen for the setting to move on.

"If you look back at Ultimas 1, 2, 3 - they weren't related to the rest [of the games]. Five of the later six games were all in literally the exact same world with the exact same characters and cities," he recalled.

"I actually think it's time to move on from that regardless, so even if we were to have access to the properties of my historical work, I don't think I would change my current plans. I'm very confident of the current plans as the right way to evolve my creation, regardless."

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So it's an Ultima game, but it doesn't share the setting of the UO that we play. That's disappointing because if I want to play a game that does not share a setting with the Ultima/UO we play, then I'm not going to play a Facebook game. If Garriott wanted to do all of this in a non-Facebook setting, fine, but if you want me to play an Ultima Facebook game, it better be set in the Ultima that I know.

That's harsh and possibly overly-critical, but the lore is a big draw and the Facebook aspect is a big turnoff. I know why he wants to do a new setting and Facebook - cheaper, and he can get rid of things that he doesn't like that were introduced in UO.

It would be really cool if they get Garriott to come back before they close UO. It started with him, it should end with him too. Maybe they can get Rainz to kill him again! I would definitely come back to be there to see it again.

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Ultima name and IP, but he's talking about moving past Ultima as we know it into a new setting.

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Pagan maybe? That would be consistent with Ultima Lore.

In any cases, I don't believe they would ever pull the plug from UO, it will just evolve. One of the first rule of business is to cherish your "captive" customers. 10+ years old vets will likely never cancel their account, but may very well not sign up if you ask them to restart from scratch.

It isn't anymore like the classical games you could finish in a month or two and move on to the next one (and even so, in some of the Ultima games you could actually transfer your char from the previous one).

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I hope there is an ultima online 2, not sure if it would be a good idea to be able to transfer char's to it or not though, would probably make it unfair for new players
...However Ultima Online 2 will probably never happen!

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This comes from the same guy (RG) that said MMO's are dead. If he just going straight to facebook it wont be a mmo like UO.

He flip flops to much in his interviews. He was forced out of EA, he left EA, he was forced out of NCsoft, he left Ncsoft, MMO's are dead and social gaming is where it is now days, I would love to go back and work with EA with a UO2........

I think he was talking about moving beyond the existing Ultimas. VIII and IX were a continuation of VII. Plus he's brought up sci-fi stuff, which he considers to be a valid part of fantasy games, but which to a lot of us would not be an Ultima game, even if there were sci-fi elements in the existing Ultima games.

Like Zosimus said though, it's Facebook, it won't be like an MMO that we are used to.

I don't know what to think about Garriott these days. These really does feel like he just wants the Ultima branding, but would go off in a different direction.

I just looked up everquest because I was curious. It is still running and they had their 18th expansion in November released despite the fact that an everquest 2 was opened. So perhaps even a UO2 won't mean the death of UO.

All they need to do is take The Sims Social and then add a Dungeon "house." Bam. Ultima Online Social.

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There is already a Sims Medieval, just need to add a graphics pack to Sims Social and there you go.

Garriott has been obsessed with space, he brings up sci-fi when talking about a new Ultima, I'm betting he's wanting to really explore the sci-fi elements in Ultima that were pretty muted in the stand-alone games and non-existent in UO. Malas doesn't count, it was really just for housing and not Ultima lore.

If he goes the sci-fi road like he's talking, he would probably own the sci-fi RPG Facebook market.

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There is already a Sims Medieval, just need to add a graphics pack to Sims Social and there you go.

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I have no shame so I should mention The Sims Social loads themes every so often based on regional events like Halloween and Christmas. No castles, yet. It's a good thing they named their default female Sim--all the way back when they made the original, The Sims--Bella Goth. Allowed them to cheat Twilight easier this past Halloween ;D.

If LB can't get his Sci-Fi fill through Ultima, I wonder if he has enough cash to buy the rights to X-Com? That's my kind of Sci-Fi series .

I criticize him, but Garriott has always been into sci-fi, and you gotta give him credit for not trying to stick in the same fantasy rut that others have, and his views that the two can co-exist within the same game.

He's pretty bitter over how Tabula Rasa played out, maybe he wants to show that he can do sci-fi and never had a decent chance with TR due to corporate mucking around. That and he knows he burned quite a few bridges with EA, contrary to what he maybe telling gaming websites, and that his chances of getting the Ultima license are slim and none.

Him trying to play nice with EA is like a battered housewife who can't leave. The drama that was involved with Pagan, UO, Ultima IX, UO2, and Garriot leaving would be worthy of a length book.

Ironically, EA is reviving Syndicate, there are rumors of Origin's Crusader being revived, and we know Chris Roberts is quietly trying to get Wing Commander off the ground.

And guess what? BioWare is taking over Command & Conquer. I don't know what that means, other than BioWare seems to be growing rapidly and EA is working on either reviving certain games or relaunching them/rebooting them.

I noticed that when Garriott talked about his "talks" with EA, this was already after hints started being dropped that EA was going to bring back the non-UO Ultimas in some form. Garriott didn't even seem to realize that somebody within BioWare was working on a new Ultima property.

Actually maybe he was aware and is trying to create the impression that he should be the one to do so.

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While I respect Garriott and have been a huge fan of the Ultima series since I first played U6 way back 20 years or so ago, I'll wait and see what happens in his endeavors to create a "New Britannia" or whatever it's going to be.

I'm going to stay away from latching on to any rumours or innuendo reported, and I'm not going to get excited until we get something CONCRETE (i.e. more so than some recent rumours that have been peddled about the current version of UO).

Once I see what is put out there, then I'll make the judgement call on the quality. So far, the MMOG world has been full of hype that has dissolved into realizations of failures, cancellations, and poor imitations.

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did you not hear they already are making a new x-com, but 1st person, somehow I dont think it will translate into anything like x-com though, thought they say R&D will still be important.

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Yes, I think I did hear that the last time I blabbed about X-Com here--perhaps this game? Which could be cool except I've had poor success with 2K on console, TONS of bugs in their sports line. Looks like they're just trying to cash in on name. I do know the original trilogy and the first first person shooter and a flight sim (I think) are sold in a five-pack through Steam for $15. There's also a sort of spiritual successor in the UFO Trilogy, but I need a better phrase than spiritual successor because I don't know if anyone from Microprose was involved, and not sure on the quality of the product, either (seems inferior from reviews). There is supposed to be a game being developed called Xenonauts, though, which looks like the closest thing to X-Com since Microprose still owned the series--if they can finish it. If that game is as good as it looks then I'll only have Lords of the Realm to complain about ;D.

But the hope for a new Ultima currently faces one major stumbling block: EA doesn't appear to know anything about it. "I'm not sure what Richard Garriott is referring to," Jeff Brown, EA's head of corporate communications, told IndustryGamers. "But no one at EA is discussing partnership or licensing opportunities related to the Ultima Online franchise."

That led to some fast-talking clarification from a Garriott rep. "Richard is not CURRENTLY having conversations at high levels with Electronic Arts regarding the Ultima franchise. He never said that he is. I can assure you, however, that those conversations have taken place in the past," he said.

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I have said many times he contradicts himself way to much. He just got wfbbqpwned by EA in that article.

I still don't see or I am just plain blind how these games....Ultimate Collector and our Casino games, Port Casino Poker and Port Casino Blackjack .... really tie into this so called UO2 vision he has when he says mmo's are dead. I just dont see a facebook game being a pure mmo with a UO2.

When he decides the garage sale game is ready for the next testing of UO2 please keep me up on the articles Woodsman Good catch btw

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Raph Koster was onboard as well, and when I read his books and website I think he did more for UOs fundamental design than RG did. RG is a nice guy, but he has his head in the clouds way too much. He was great for the singleplayer game with the storyline, but online games don't need a story when the game mechanics are good. And there I see Raph Koster doing a lot more (mindset: levels suck, no grind, letting players rule themselves).

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Raph Koster was onboard as well, and when I read his books and website I think he did more for UOs fundamental design than RG did. RG is a nice guy, but he has his head in the clouds way too much. He was great for the singleplayer game with the storyline, but online games don't need a story when the game mechanics are good. And there I see Raph Koster doing a lot more (mindset: levels suck, no grind, letting players rule themselves).

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Exactly Shakkara, well said... Ultima Online might be the mindchild of Richard Garriot, but if I had a choice I would much rather have Designer Dragon back than him...

DD / Raph Koster's work is just so awesome. Anyone here remember the early days of Star Wars Galaxies? Talk about awesome game mechanics. The SWG crafting system blew me away...

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IIRC, DD was against the players having direct control over game mechanics, or even having much awareness of how they operate. He certainly would have been against the item centered culture we now have. I pretty clearly remember him being against having skill locks. They players all wanted it at the time and it got added. Anyone remember losing your grandmaster status in a skill because you walked past a camp fire?

Personally, I think he had the right idea, and the game would have been better if he stayed AND had his way with things. But I also think the players have asked for many of the things they complain about now and probably would have gotten then with or without DD.

IIRC, DD was against the players having direct control over game mechanics, or even having much awareness of how they operate. He certainly would have been against the item centered culture we now have. I pretty clearly remember him being against having skill locks. They players all wanted it at the time and it got added. Anyone remember losing your grandmaster status in a skill because you walked past a camp fire?

Personally, I think he had the right idea, and the game would have been better if he stayed AND had his way with things. But I also think the players have asked for many of the things they complain about now and probably would have gotten then with or without DD.

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I remember those days. Yes, we complained, but it seems like we complain regardless of what we're given.

At least UO felt more like a living world back then, full of unknowns... and less like a calculator.

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Online games need a story (several in fact) more than anything else, otherwise it is just a mindless bash-collect-bash-collect stuff. Mhh... this reminds me of something...

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I believe the story should be created by the players, using the sand in the sandbox provided by the developers.

Most games (like for example WoW) do have a pretty rich storyline, but it's set in stone by the developers. The players are on rails and only get the illusion they have meaningful impact, while in reality their impact is minimal or even non-existent. If there is any impact, it either is instanced to the player, or it resets automatically every once in a while... Which makes it meaningless.

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I believe the story should be created by the players, using the sand in the sandbox provided by the developers.

Most games (like for example WoW) do have a pretty rich storyline, but it's set in stone by the developers. The players are on rails and only get the illusion they have meaningful impact, while in reality their impact is minimal or even non-existent. If there is any impact, it either is instanced to the player, or it resets automatically every once in a while... Which makes it meaningless.

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I think a middle ground is best here. We are not all talented fiction writers. I'm not even an un-talented one. If the developers give us a background story to work with, we can then create our own sub plots if we choose, or just play along with what is written for us if that suits us better. The story can be there with out forcing the players to participate in it in a pre-defined way as you describe it on WoW.

I think a middle ground is best here. We are not all talented fiction writers. I'm not even an un-talented one. If the developers give us a background story to work with, we can then create our own sub plots if we choose, or just play along with what is written for us if that suits us better. The story can be there with out forcing the players to participate in it in a pre-defined way as you describe it on WoW.

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Those were the best of times... when Seers were around and worked closely with the role-playing communities to develop and play out different story lines often initiated by the players themselves. That spirit of flexibility and mutual cooperation with very accessible Seers resulted in some great ongoing plots and adventures for all who cared to be actively involved.

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I know so many gamers that are interested in the game mechanics of Ultima Online (no classes and levels, player housing, open sandbox world, no quests, no instances, no grind) and specifically the old version of the game where we didn't yet have the horrible itemization.

But they simply cannot put up with Ultima Online's aged graphics and horrible user interface.

The only thing I hope is that it will be an isometric game or otherwise play from a bird's eye perspective. I hate first/third person games so much.

UOs death is inevitable, it'll happen sooner or later. The only fear I have is that it will die before a worthy replacement comes.

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a week after beta was released i was amongst a seer and 4 friends and the seer told us the game would never last because of the bugs, problems.

heard it hundred times since, and guess what its still here. You can go play any game, but in the end you will come back to Ultima. Just how it is and always will be.

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